Nyabon's Nourishment
by FluffPuffCat
Summary: It's tough being a giant reanimated cat in a twisted, demonic castle, but sometimes, a kind person can make all the difference.


It was cold, so cold.

Nyabon didn't know why he was awake again. After darkness, he was once again sensing, aware. He didn't like how it felt.

The hallway was too cramped. Once, the walls had stretched far above his head, unreachable, like the vanished stars. Giant pillars loomed, menacing, hiding the unseen gazes of things that struck and bit and created pain.

Then he had fallen down, and no matter how he tried he could not get back onto his feet. Slowly, in tedious agony, he had lost his capability to purrceive. Then, all sensation disappeared. It would not return.

That was what Nyabon had thought. But, against all reason, he was back.

And he was big. Very big.

Nyabon realized after some time that only the upper half of his former body had returned. Whenever he tried to move anything below his chest, he felt only emptiness. He couldn't turn around to try and see what had happened to the rest of his body. All he could do was slightly change the angle of his head, upon which he noticed the blinding white light, a circle flashing around him, like some kind of collar that was meant to immobilize him forever.

He was hungry, cold, and cramped. And very, very angry.

The other things in this castle were gruesome, monstrous. Green-skinned ape-things with scissors for hands, giant flying blue horned apes, the one-eyed stone bats. He swiped and snapped, but could never do anything to them. They ignored him, even when he did something he hadn't known he was capable of, summoning a pillar of fire born from the feelings of wrath and hatred that coursed through his being.

Nyabon was alone in this castle, awake and immobilized, in purrmanent hunger and cold and agony. He wanted more than anything for the torment to stop. He wished he had never wandered off that day.

Much time passed. Nyabon did not know how long he had spent in this insufferable misery. He had never learned how to understand the circular tick-tocking metal he used to see from a place and time that was now long gone. The tall, kind cats seemed to have a use for that metal, using its shapes and angles to discern when it was time to give Nyabon food.

Nyabon missed the tall cats and their regular food deliveries. One day, he had fallen out of a square hole in the wall, and could not find his way back to that comfortable place.

There were cries in the distance. Sounds of slashing and gnashing. The other things in this castle were howling in pain, being shredded to pieces by something. Footsteps were approaching.

A tall cat was here.

The tall cat was a girl-cat, a pain-stick in her paw that she swung to cut the things that lurked in these halls. She was making her way here, to Nyabon. Everything that stood in her way fell, howling in agony.

She would come to hit Nyabon with that pain-stick.

Nyabon snarled. He did not want her to come any closer. She did not react to him, and kept approaching.

He lifted his paw and swiped at the tall girl-cat. She nimbly dodged out of harm's way and stood just out of reach from his claws. He swung and snapped and batted, fearing that if he stopped she would come and cut him with the pain-stick. But she simply stood there.

Unable to contain his wrath, he called forth a pillar of fire beneath her feet. She was momentarily surprised, but quickly dodged away as the flames shot like a spout of water out of the ground.

Nyabon tried again and again to hit her, with both fire and claw, and she evaded them all. She danced gracefully, every movement purrfectly timed to avoid contact a split second before his blows landed, a truly fearsome girl-cat, her pain-stick swinging menacingly from her paw, yet the stick never cut him.

He collapsed, exhausted, lacking all will and strength to move his paw or to summon fire again. He had been beaten, and now she would come to end him with a spasm of deplorable pain.

He waited for the moment when the world would shatter.

She approached, cautiously, her pain-stick ready to be swung. Nyabon wondered if he should bat at her, one last time. But he knew he could not hit her. She would just dodge out of the way again, as she had done countless times.

As she came close, the pain-stick just a hair's breadth away from ripping through him, her eyes suddenly softened.

Her paw reached out and gently touched Nyabon on his cheek.

He couldn't understand what this meant. Did she mean to use her paw to kill him instead of the pain-stick? Would it cause even more agony?

But she did not make any sudden movements.

Slowly, her paw sifted through his fur, creating ripples of a gentle sensation that he had not felt for ages.

Nyabon let his tense muscles relax. Her paw stroked his cheek, his neck, his shoulders, his back. Even though this tall-cat was actually not as tall as he remembered the tall-cats to be, the way she stroked felt familiar. It brought him back to a time when things were so much better. A time when there was no pain, no hunger, no cold. The tall-cats would always be so gentle like this.

Her eyes glistened with a kind light. For the first time since he had fallen out of that square hole, he felt he did not have to fear another being.

She put her pain-stick away, tucking it into a fabric that was black and not sharp. Her paw reached up towards his big ears. She could not get to them, so she did something surprising - she climbed on top of his back, as gentle as ever, and began softly scratching his ears.

Nyabon had never felt anything so delightful. As she scratched, a ripple of relief washed all over his body. It was such a soothing feeling. Like all the pain in the world was finally fading. Something rose in his chest, a feeling that he'd not felt for such a long time, and it rose up to his throat, releasing as a small, vibrating purr.

The tall girl-cat seemed delighted to hear this sound. She scratched more and more, to both ears, and continued to caress his his back, his cheek.

Nyabon could never have imagined that he could feel such happiness.

She opened her mouth and spoke something that he couldn't understand. He had never understood the purring of the tall cats. But it didn't matter, because her actions had spoken more loudly, and she kept on stroking him, scratching his ears.

He did not know how it had happened, but suddenly he had flipped onto his back, paws up in the air, the upper half of his belly exposed.

She continued caressing him, now down his neck and his belly, and he kept purring. All the pain in his body had receded, giving way to the gentleness of her paw. A stroke here and there, a scratch on the ears (that was the best feeling), even an occasional belly rub. He did not respond as favourably to that, but he let her do it anyway, because she was a kind tall-cat. She had already made him so happy.

After many caresses and scratches, each so soft and tender, he felt her lift her paw, and immediately he missed the gentle sensation of her touch. He wanted it back. He wanted her to pet him again, like the tall-cats used to do, bring back the good old days, the home he yearned for, the touch he could never have again.

She purred something, and he knew by the expression on her face that she would also be sad to leave him.

Why did she have to leave? Why couldn't she stay here forever?

He wanted her to pet him again, to caress him with her soft paw, to scratch his ears, to draw out that deep, sentimental purr from his throat.

But she did not. She turned around and left.

The halls were dark, cold, and cramped. They were silent, now that all those other things were gone. He was alone again. Alone, without the company of a tall cat that could scratch him and give him food, anything he wanted.

Yet, that look on her face when she left, it was the kind of look the tall cats used to give him before they would leave as well, and those tall cats always came back. They would always come back in time to give him food, more scratches, more rubs and pets, and sometimes the tall cats would bring other tall cats and they would all pet and scratch him too.

So, maybe, she was leaving so she could bring other tall cats to pet him.

It used to be that the tall cats' paws were giant, and with so many paws petting him, there would be almost no space left for them to scratch. But now he was a lot bigger than the tall cats. Now she could bring all the other tall cats and they would all be able to come and pet him.

He knew that had to be what she had left to do. She was going to bring lots of other tall cats.

The kind, tall cat was going to come back.

She had to.


End file.
